BOISE, Idaho - The crime was meticulously planned, the killer choreographing every step from his surveillance of the doomed north Idaho family to the videotaped torture of one of his youngest victims.
Yet something as simple as a locked back door, or fiercer family dogs, might have turned Joseph Edward Duncan III away.
Duncan's federal sentencing hearing opened Wednesday with U.S. Attorney Thomas Moss laying out the gruesome details of how Duncan decimated the Groene family, all because he wanted to "live out his fantasy" and exact a terrible revenge on society for perceived wrongs.
Moss told jurors they'd have to watch video footage of the sadistic sexual torture of 9-year-old Dylan Groene, filmed shortly before Duncan killed him.
Duncan forced then-8-year-old Shasta Groene, the sole survivor, to watch that video and made her watch - standing so close her clothes were spattered by blood - as he killed her brother, jurors were told.
Duncan pleaded guilty in December to 10 federal charges in the 2005 kidnapping of Shasta and Dylan Groene and Dylan's murder. Three of those charges carry the death penalty, and the jury must decide if he will spend life in prison without parole or be executed for his crimes.
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Duncan is representing himself. He told the jury Wednesday that most of what Moss said was fair and accurate "up to the point of what occurred at the campground."
Duncan said he would testify so he could answer any questions and try to "clarify things."
The defendant's standby legal counsel, Judy Clarke, has said Duncan doesn't plan to offer any mitigation, such as evidence of his own traumatic childhood. He has reached an agreement with prosecutors so Shasta won't have to testify during the first phase of the hearing. Instead, her videotaped statements to police will tell her story.
It's not yet known if Shasta will choose to offer a victim impact statement later.
Duncan's past is littered with arrests and prison time for crimes ranging from car theft to rape and molestation. He is suspected in the 1996 slayings of two half-sisters from Seattle, and is charged with the 1997 killing of a young boy in Riverside County, Calif.
The broad outlines of this case are well known - in May 2005, Duncan broke into the Groene family's Coeur d'Alene home, fatally bludgeoning 13-year-old Slade Groene, his mother Brenda Groene and her boyfriend Mark McKenzie before abducting Shasta and Dylan. Duncan has already been convicted in state court for those three murders; the federal case concerns the crimes against Shasta and Dylan.
The details Moss described left jurors looking stricken, covering their mouths and shaking their heads.
Still, the prosecution's theory of Duncan's motive is vague, with Moss citing revenge and sex as two motivators.
Duncan had researched police investigation procedures and took many steps to avoid getting caught, Moss told jurors. He bought too-large tennis shoes at a thrift store so no bloody footprints would point police toward him. He wiped down the shotgun shells before he loaded them so no fingerprints would be left behind. He loaded the first shot with BB pellets because he thought he'd have to shoot the family dogs, and didn't necessarily want to kill them.
He had a video camera, a computer and a GPS device filled with locations he thought would be handy, such as potential campsites, Moss said. He brought with him the heavy-duty framing hammer he used to bludgeon the older victims.
On the night of the murders, Duncan crept across a field to the home, using a low-visibility red-bulb flashlight to guide his way. He peered into the children's window, and saw them sleeping. But one of the family dogs saw him and growled - frightening him enough that he retreated to the fence, Moss said.
"He made a decision: 'If that back door is locked, I'm going to abort,"' Moss said Duncan later told police.
When he turned the handle, it opened. And the terror began.
The family dogs approached but scurried away when they saw Duncan's gun, Moss said.
Duncan bound the family, took the youngest children outside and systematically beat the others to death.
Then he drove away with Dylan and Shasta, making sure they knew he had killed their relatives as he headed deep into the Montana wilderness.
The trio camped for several weeks at the end of a remote forest road near St. Regis, Mont., Moss said. When Duncan left the camp, he tied the children to a tree with a dog chain.
On June 22, 2005, Duncan left Shasta at the camp, taking Dylan to a remote mining cabin.
"He had this little boy at this cabin for three hours and 25 minutes," Moss said.
Prosecutors know what happened during 30 of those minutes because Duncan videotaped his sexual abuse and torture of Dylan. The video is graphic, Moss warned jurors, but they'll have to watch it as they make their decision.
"It shows that to Joseph Duncan the infliction of pain and sexual gratification goes together," Moss said. "Heinous, cruel and depraved are tough words in the English language, but none of these words ... fully express the outrage of what you will see."
After they returned to the campsite, the first thing Duncan did was show Shasta the video, Moss said. Then - at some point over the next four days - Shasta heard a gunshot and turned to see Dylan clutching his stomach where he'd been hit. Then she watched as Duncan walked over to Dylan, held the gun next to his head and pulled the trigger. The gun didn't fire, Moss said, so Duncan reloaded and fired again.
"The way this little girl describes it is: her brother's head exploded," Moss said. Duncan wrapped the body in a tarp, threw it on the campfire and let it burn for several days, until it was reduced to ashes.
Then Duncan took Shasta back to Coeur d'Alene, stopping at a Denny's restaurant to eat at about 1 a.m. A waitress recognized Shasta and called police.
Dylan "deserves the justice that only you can provide," Moss told the jury.
